[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Gasaraki #8 (episodes 23-25) and Final Thoughts
And so we reach the end of the epic Gasaraki. It’s taken a while with a false start or two but I’ve finally seen the whole series through to its conclusion - the battle lines are drawn between the USA and Japan, the Gasara is being called and Yushiro makes his last desperate attempt to bring back Miharu. The political side of things is wrapped up, giving us a superb sequence of TA combat scenes and the underlying themes are finally addressed. Only now has the true meaning of Gasaraki become clear: after all the mechinations, wars and allegiances it’s not about mecha development or wars over food supplies; it’s about something a lot less tangible and much more interesting.
I admit that, as a fan of military/mecha style shows, the assault on the Gowa HQ ended that side of things with a bang. It could be argued that Gasaraki was a bit stingy with portraying this sort of thing more often but the action was a bonus rather than a central aim of the story. It happened rarely but when it did happen though, it was gripping and hard hitting. The deeper-buried themes and ideas on the other hand were kept in the backround throughout, which made the final revelations all the more fascinating.
Unfortunately the unhurried pace of the series made it a bit of a tedious journey to reach that point: Gasaraki was a very straight-faced series that offered little in the way of humour to lighten the mood. In trying so hard to be a mature and realistic show (something it should be congratulated for at the end of the day), it seemed to lose its sense of humour and take itself far too seriously. There were a few minor characters who didn’t get the screen time they deserved either, but that is only a minor criticism when you think of how broad the show’s scope was. Still, it would have been interesting to explore their motives and feelings a little more.
As an typical ‘post-Evangelion‘ series, it’s important I suppose to discuss the ending. I must admit that I was expecting a conclusion that was open-ended, out-of-character or just plain unsatisfying; in actuality it provided the closure required without too much in the way of uncharacteristic convenient tying-up. There’s no neat Yushiro X Miharu romantic pairing or untimely demises of the ‘bad guys’; rather our two heroes are shown side-by-side, surrounded by their comrades, looking ahead and upwards at a new day with no definite answer as to what the future will bring. It’s neither wholly predictable nor unexpected, and plays out with people behaving as you’d expect real people to behave. Furthermore, the underlying explanations made the viewer think about what they’d seen and heard but not deliberately holding back information either. It’s an appropriate way to wrap things up.
Final Thoughts
The serious and humourless approach to storytelling made Gasaraki tough going in places, although my patience was rewarded eventually. The attention to detail must be considered too, because Heaven knows most viewers won’t appreciate the effort that went into drawing and animating the military hardware authentically. The usage of secondary characters could have been utilised more but at least one of my requests was granted by the end: Yushiro’s sister Misuzu became a pivotal character in the final episodes, even with the fact that she was a kai thrown in towards the end! Who could ask for more?
The final episode brought back more Evangelion comparisons with its experimental artwork and emotional introspection that replaces an explosive finale; as with the series RahXephon, which mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi would go on to direct, Gasaraki seems to make the effort to add some extra elements to the tired and well-used mecha genre - this time bringing the lumbering armoured robots into a setting that is very realistic and believable. Unlike the standard ‘giant robot’ mecha designs that are enormous, fantastical and detached from reality, its easy to imagine the TAs of Gasaraki operating in a world not far removed from our own - the addition of the historical aspect also made this series very distinctive and something of a refreshing change.
Overall, I found Gasaraki to be an inriguing and rewarding experience. That is not to say I found it to be ‘entertaining’ in the sense of laughing and being perched on the edge of my seat; this is probably why it’s such an overlooked title, which is a shame when fans of serious mecha and science fiction will find many reasons to declare it a classic.
Posted on September 28th, 2008 @ 2:00 am
I most certainly agree with Martin on all aspects - no matter what anyone else might say, this is not your run-of-the-mill mecha that “was absolutely pointless, not worth watching.” The combat was most certainly not the base of the anime. Overall, with me, it was the storyline itself and realism that I personally found most endearing. I, too, could visualize the TA’s being used in real life, and the actions of the characters were true to what real people would do in those sort of situations.
Because of its focus not upon combat, humor, or - thankfully - cliche plot items, but upon a mirror of reality… that is why it separates itself from all other mechas, causing itself to be truly classic. Its seriousness seems to have born out of this true desire for realism. There is some humor, yes, but do you see that as being Gasaraki’s central focus?
It is truly mournful that this series has been overlooked by the majority of anime and sci-fi otaku because of these characteristics. Perhaps it is because of a lack of “entertainment” value that so many people are looking for… or because of a fear of true emotional introspection and contemplation. Gasaraki is indeed tedious at times, entire episodes in which tension is literally the only emotion evoked, but each episode that you watch draws you deeper into the story and attaches you more closely to the characters.
Serious? Yes. Classical? Yes. Entertaining? Yes, to those who enjoy serious fiction. Pointless? NO.